A Love Without End
by Lefty
Summary: A little Legolas gets in trouble with his father, who in turn gives the young elf some fatherly advice to ease his mind.


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~A Love Without End~

By: Lefty 

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Rated: PG

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Summary: A little Legolas gets in trouble with his father, who in turn gives the young elf some fatherly advice to ease his mind.

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Disclaimer: Middle Earth and all it's recognizable characters and places belong to J.R.R. Tolkien. I make no profit off of this. I write this for the sole purpose of enjoyment. 

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A/N: I guess you could say it's based on A Love Without End, Amen by George Strait and Unconditional by Clay Davidson. Very touching songs. Ooh and, Legolas' age in this story is equivalent to about 7 or 8 or 9 (LoL...haven't really decided) in "human" years...putting his at that, impish, mischievous age. ;-) Not really sure what that makes him in Elven years. Enjoy. 

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The young elf stood nervously before the smothering gaze of the elder presence before him. He knew he was in trouble. A lot of trouble. And though he had not tried to avoid or hide what he had done, he was beginning to wish that he had.

The dirty water from the elf's golden hair and clothes dripped continually upon the shiny floor and made a small puddle around his feet. He was muddy all over. His soft boots were caked with the reddish-brown mud and it was streaked all over his once clean clothes and fair face. The sound of dripping was the only noise at the moment, but the young elf knew it would not last long. 

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I should have never let them talk me into it. He mused, and mentally kicked himself for his childish behavior and unintelligent decisions. He should not have let his actions be swayed so easily by his friends. Even if it was for a bit of fun, he had directly disobeyed his father.

The older elf's deep voice broke the silence. "I am very disappointed in you, Legolas. I _specifically_ told you _not _to go out before our guests came. They arrived, and you were not here. Not _only_ were you late, but you were filthy and hardly presentable. I was hoping to present a young prince." 

Legolas hung his head, not able to look his father in the eyes. He cheeks burned with shame and humiliation and the tear tracks streaked down his dirty, childish face. 

The Elven king sighed. Rubbing his eyes in aggravation, he extended his arm to point in the direction of his son's quarters. He did not want to reprimand Legolas out in the hall, not in the open.

"Go to your room, Legolas. I want you to get yourself cleaned up and wait for me there. We will talk more then. Right now I have to...explain to our guests why _I_ will be delayed."

The young prince lifted his head and responded quietly. "Yes, Ada." With that, he walked quickly past his father and fled to his room.

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The young elf had barely made it to his room before he broke out into uncontrollable tears. He shut his door quickly and leaned against it for a moment, squeezing his silver-blue eyes shut while he calmed down. Legolas hated it when Thranduil got cross with him. It made things awkward and the days to follow were usually accompanied by uncomfortable silences and minimal conversations. The last thing he wanted to do was dishonor his father. But he had today. He had made foolish decisions and he would be punished. The guilt and shame was bad enough already, but he could not imagine how his father would forgive his actions so quickly. 

Sucking in a shaky breath, he decided he needed to get cleaned up as to not make his father any more upset then he already was. Standing up straight, he went and did just that.

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Awhile later, the young elf's sobs were muffled into the soft pillow, his small body shook with his weeping. He was clean now, the mud gone and his dirty clothes replaced with clean ones. He just wished that the water has also washed away his disgrace. 

What he had done was not extremely terrible, he reasoned. His father would not hate him for it. He just felt...embarrassed. Ashamed. 

Suddenly, a soft knock on the door warned Legolas that Thranduil was about to enter. Even though Legolas made a desperate, last minute attempt to dry his eyes, Thranduil could still tell that his young son had been crying when he walked through the door. He strode slowly to the edge of the bed and sat down. Legolas had cleaned himself up and changed into new clothes. His long, golden hair was rid of the red mud and it clung in tangled locks. Free of its usual braids, it gave the young elf a very disheveled appearance. 

Neither father nor son said anything for a few moments. Legolas did notice that Thranduil looked slightly calmer. He choose then to speak up. 

"I am very sorry, Ada. I...I do not know what I was thinking. I thought nothing would happen and that I would be back in time," the young elf apologized quietly. "I had no intentions of making you or our guests wait. It was very rude and inconsiderate of me." The King listened patiently as his son confessed, nodding in consent. Legolas glanced at his father to see if his confession had provoked any change.

Thranduil was looking fondly at his young son. Only a short while ago he had been fuming, unable to believe that Legolas would deliberately disobey his direct orders. But now, looking at the elf, his heart softened. His son had done what he was supposed to by taking responsibly for his actions. He knew how hard it was to do such things, and Legolas, at his young age, had been able to. 

"Ada," the young price spoke up again, confused by his father's lack of retaliation. "Can you forgive..." his pleading words were cut off. 

"I was upset Legolas. But yes, I will forgive you. I am very proud that you told me the truth earlier today and did not try to lie or make excuses. You took sole responsibility for what you did. And although your actions earlier were not the best, you have shown me that despite what you did, you are able to deal with the consequences in a mature way."

Legolas was comforted by his father's words. He looked up at his father with a relieved smile. 

Thranduil laid a gentle hand on his small son's shoulder and returned the gesture. Shifting his position on the edge of the bed, he cleared his throat. Legolas' brow furrowed, contemplating what his father might say next. 

"Let me tell you something, my son. Just because I was upset with you, does not mean I stop loving you at that moment. I do not just love you sometimes of the day and not others. I _always_ do. And always will. It is an..." his voice drifted off, searching for the right word, "unconditional love."

"Unconditional? What does that mean?" Legolas asked puzzled, struggling with the new, unfamiliar word.

Thranduil laughed, expecting that reaction. "It means that no matter what happens and no matter how many more times you disobey me, which I hope will be few, my love for you will never cease. It's timing is not determined by actions or lack there of." He waited to see his son's expression, hoping that the explanation would clarify things. "Do you understand?" 

The young elf nodded slowly and responded thoughtfully. "I think so, Ada." 

"Good," Thranduil said, standing up from his seat on the bed. "Now, promise you will try harder in the future to obey me, Legolas."

The young elf nodded. "I promise." 

Thranduil looked at his son, and suddenly found the elf's appearance quiet amusing. "Let us get you ready," he chuckled. "We wouldn't want to keep our guests waiting any longer, now would we my little Prince?" 

Legolas giggled as his father made a half-hearted attempt to grab and tickle him, and smiled brightly. (A smile that, to Thranduil, seemed to light up the whole room) Thranduil laughed at his child's happiness and, finding his son's brush, brushed out the tousled locks with gentle hands and neatly braided the little elf's golden hair...

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King Thranduil presented his only son to his visitors that afternoon. Needless to say, they were immensely impressed with the little Prince's manners and found that his story behind his late arrival was rather interesting...

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~The End~

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A/N: And so I'm leaving it up to you guys to figure out what little Legolas did (I do that a lot...leave stuff vague for you to think about. It's just how I like to write)...I know there's plenty of active imagination's out there that can think of endless possibilities. It's not like it's a vital element to the story anyway...LoL. Hope you enjoyed. I had this written for awhile...I'm not talking years or anything...but I could never seemed to get it to a point where I liked it. I do believe I am satisfied with it at this point, obviously, because I wouldn't have posted it otherwise. Constructive criticism is welcome...it makes me better. :-)


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